New life could be coming to Bridgeport. The governor announced plans on Tuesday to demolish the former Public Service Electric and Gas Plant. It's an old, decommissioned, coal-power plant in the city.
The goal is to turn the property into potential commercial, residential and recreational space.
“This 33-acre shoreline property containing a former coal plant with a 500-foot smokestack has cut off access to the waterfront for Bridgeport residents for more than 70 years, and the contamination it has left behind has caused a significant hurdle in how this land could possibly be redeveloped and brought back into productive use to the benefit of the community,” Gov. Ned Lamont said in a release. “Nobody wants to have an old, polluted, unused and blighted building sitting on the shoreline of our state’s largest city when we could be using this property to grow new jobs and build housing for people who need it."
The plant has a 500-foot smokestack that the governor says has been the source of significant pollution over the decades.
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The smokestack can be seen from Interstate 95 as you drive through the city.
PSEG announced it was retiring the Bridgeport coal-powered plant back on June 1 of 2021, saying it was part of the company's long-term coal exit strategy.
Over the years, the plant has only been used during peak energy demands to supply power to southern Connecticut.
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PSEG had also opened a natural gas power plant in Bridgeport in 2019, which offset the need for this one.
PSEG released a statement on Tuesday saying:
“We’re pleased to reach this agreement and appreciate the support of the State of Connecticut and the City of Bridgeport. We’re looking forward to the redevelopment of the Bridgeport waterfront.”
The plans for the demolition and remediation were made possible through the state’s Community Investment Fund.
The City of Bridgeport applied for funding in 2023 and was awarded $22.5 million to move forward with the power plant’s demolition.
"Such a visual site that produces jobs, tax benefits, accentuates the waterfront and really is a part, and will be a jewel in Bridgeport's continued waterfront and redevelopment,” Mayor Joe Ganim said.
The power plant was formerly owned by Public Service Electric & Gas (PSE&G). Through a formal agreement, the ownership was transferred from PSE&G to Bridgeport Station Development.
Chad Parks, a partner with Bridgeport Station Development, said they are looking forward to being part of the milestone project.
“We at Bridgeport Station Development have been entrusted with the responsibility to safely and efficiently abate, demolish, remediate and redevelop this property,” Parks said.
Parks added ongoing demolition in the interior will begin this week.
In addition, the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection will be assisting the developer with the demolition and investigation of the soil underneath the site, to find out what still needs to be addressed.
“What we know is there had been releases associated with the use of fossil fuel for combustion, there had been releases from the operations of the facility, heavy metals, large organic compounds, anything you would think of from a heavy industrial use. The majority of that contamination has been remediated,” Graham Steven, bureau chief of the Bureau of Water Protection and Land Reuse.
